UNCW receives mediocre rating for College of Education
Dean says study's analysis system is 'weak'
Published: Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 7:03 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 7:03 p.m.
A new national report on teacher education programs gives a middle-of-the-road ranking to the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Watson College of Education. But university officials – and several national voices – say the organization that put out the report is "flimsy" at best.
The National Council on Teacher Quality's Teacher Prep Review, released earlier this month, looked at more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate education programs at colleges and universities nationwide. Using a four-star scale, it ranked those programs on their admission standards and training rigor. UNCW's undergraduate elementary education program received 2 1/2 stars, while its undergraduate and graduate secondary programs received two stars each. Roughly 78 percent of the programs rated received two or fewer stars.
The council is an advocacy group that formed in 2000 to "provide an alternative national voice to existing teacher organizations" and push reform in teacher recruitment, preparation, training and compensation, according to its website. This review, released in mid-June, is its first nationwide look at traditional teacher education programs.
The report's authors called teacher education programs "an industry of mediocrity." Supporters of the council say colleges and universities can improve on that by making it more difficult for students to get into their teacher education programs.
But critics, such as Ken Teitelbaum, dean of UNCW's Watson College of Education, view the council as part of a movement that wants to make educating teachers a profitable business rather than a university function.
To rate the schools, report researchers requested information from colleges that included admission requirements, course syllabi, surveys of students and textbooks used. Researchers did not visit the colleges or the schools that hired their graduates or interview the graduates themselves. The review used this information to decide if education students had learned how to do things such as teach non-English speakers and manage classrooms.
"It's a very weak rating in terms of the evidence used and in terms of the analysis of the evidence," Teitelbaum said.
For example, UNCW submitted about 500 pages of documents, including syllabi and handbooks, and the review looked at UNCW's website. From that information, the report gave UNCW 0 stars in its math curriculum, but 4 stars in reading curriculum. Education students take the same number of courses in both subjects, Teitelbaum said.
Teitelbaum pointed to the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education as an example of a strong system. Schools are evaluated every seven years, submitting multiple reports and data, and undergoing site visits and student and professor interviews. UNCW's Watson College of Education is scheduled to go through its assessment this year.
The Watson College also goes through state and self assessments and participates in UNC-system research studies.
Teitelbaum said he believed teacher preparation was "integrally related" to teacher quality.
"We're willing to take good feedback and look at ourselves," he said. "But this rating does not help in the slightest, and teacher quality is certainly more than just the teacher preparation programs, as important as they are."
This article contains material from the Associated Press.
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